Chapter Six
Cayden
A s soon as Rage gets everyone to shut the fuck up, he finds out Oakley came back this morning. No one knew she was coming, and as soon as she was here, she ran upstairs and found the pills Brielle had been giving her. Noah tried to take them from her, but she has since locked herself in the bathroom, and now everyone is arguing about how to handle the situation.
As Rage listens, I notice Harley sneak off to the hallway where the offices are, where Oakley locked herself in a bathroom. I nudge Grayson, and we follow behind her, giving her some space as she approaches the door and lightly knocks. “Oakley?” No response. “It’s Harley. Just me. No one else. Can I come in, please?” she asks softly.
After waiting a minute with no response, Harley steps back but then stops when we hear shuffling and then the sound of a lock clicking.
Reaching forward, she tries the door handle, and when it opens, she says, “Okay, I’m coming in.”
Stepping in, she leaves the door open so we can see and hear from the hallway. Harley moves slowly to the opposite wall in the bathroom and squats down in front of Oakley, who is sitting on the floor with her knees drawn up to her chest, clutching the bottle of pills.
“I haven’t taken any yet,” Oakley rasps.
“That’s good. Can you tell me what happened?” Harley asks, sitting down and crossing her legs in front of her.
At this point, Rage, Noah, and Sugar have made their way down the hall, but Grayson holds a finger up to his lips and mouths for them to wait. “I was trapped. I couldn’t breathe,” she rasps, clutching the pill bottle tighter.
“At the rehab place?” Harley questions.
“Yes. They told me I just needed time to adjust, but it was—I couldn’t breathe,” she reiterates.
“I know. I understand how that feels, like you just need to get out right away.”
“Yes,” Oakley cries. “They said I could sit outside for a while, but I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t be locked away again, so I–well, I ran.”
“Well, I’m glad you felt like this was a safe place to run to. You are safe here,” Harley reminds her. “What about the pills?” she asks hesitantly.
“I–I need to feel in control again. I thought they would help, but then all I could do was stare at the bottle. Pills are what allowed others to have ultimate control over me to begin with. I don’t want to take them. I really don’t. But I need them.”
Harley hesitates, seeming unsure of what to say. Rage must notice, because after Harley doesn’t respond, he walks forward and raps his knuckles on the doorframe before slowly entering. Squatting down behind Harley, he places a hand on her shoulder.
“We can help you, Oakley. If you really want to beat this, I will help you. We all will help you. Someone will be with you every step of the way. We can find an alternative to inpatient rehab. But in order to do that, I need you to show me you want our help.”
Oakley looks up at him for the first time, weariness with what I think is a little bit of hope shining in her eyes as she asks, “What do I have to do?”
Rage holds his free hand out. “Give me the bottle of pills. That’s it. Just hand them to me, and we will help you.”
Squeezing her eyes shut, Oakley takes a moment before exhaling and giving him a fierce look of determination that reminds me a lot of Harley as she uncurls her fingers from around the bottle and drops it into his hand.
After we get Oakley settled, Noah and Harley leave to go get Ryker and check in with Lincoln for any updates on Atlas.
Grayson had been planning to go with them, but while we were getting Oakley situated, he said he was going to stay back and has since disappeared. I know he is more than likely in the tech room, so I head to it and walk right in, finding him sitting at Nerds’ desk, working.
“What are you doing?” I ask, heading over to glance at his computer screens.
Grayson jolts slightly, not having noticed I came into the room. Clearing his throat, he explains, “Rage called the rehab facility. He wanted to just see about getting her switched to outpatient care and explain the circumstances but when she ran she panicked and punched the aid that was with her.” He grimaces. “So they won’t let her come back at all. I’m looking into another program to see if it will work for her before giving Rage the information so he can call.”
I’m shocked that she punched someone in her panic to leave. She fought us when we found her but she was delirious and searching for drugs. This one was just out of fear. At least now we know she won’t freeze when she’s scared in certain situations. That’s a good thing, especially after everything she has been through.
Grabbing a chair from one of the other desks in the room, I pull it over to him and take a seat. He side-eyes me. “What are you doing?”
I shrug. “What can I do to help?”
“You want to help?” he questions slowly, staring at me like I have two heads.
Gesturing towards his computers, I grumble, “Tell me what I can do, or I’m going to leave. You’re making this weird.”
“Right.” He coughs and then grabs a laptop sitting off to the side of the desk. “Want to go through a bunch of cam footage? It's the entrance to the club and the building cameras. I haven’t had a chance to go through all of it yet. Rage was supposed to have someone help me, but we’ve all been so distracted and stressed, I didn’t want to pester him.”
“Hand it over.” He places the laptop in front of me and brings up the different cameras, quickly showing me how to scan through the feed the quickest. Nodding, I press fast forward on the first camera at the main gate and say to Grayson, “Next time, pester me or Harley. Or Ryker when he isn’t injured. We will always help you, even when shit’s crazy.” I don’t look at him as I say it, but I can feel his eyes burning a hole in the side of my head before he eventually gets back to work.
Grayson
A while later, I sent over the information for a new rehab place to Rage and then helped Cade go through more footage. Because of the way Nerds had the cameras angled to focus on the road and parking lot, you can’t actually see the front of the garage doors. So we can just barely see Atlas’ bike park, and then it’s a bright light and tons of smoke after the explosion
After scanning through every camera we have, we determined no one snuck on the property at any time, not unless they knew where every single camera was and how to get around them. That wouldn’t be possible, since Nerds and I are the only ones who know every single spot.
So that means there are two options: it was accidental, or it was Atlas’ bike. Which is why I have now hacked into street cameras, tracking Atlas back to where he had been coming from, which is taking forever.
The door opening causes us both to glance up as Harley walks through with Ryker next to her. He’s clutching his ribs but grinning at us.
Harley shoots him a glare and immediately pushes him over to a chair and makes him sit down. “What are you doing in here?” Cade asks, sitting back in his chair and crossing his arms over his chest.
“Being a royal pain in the ass,” Harley mumbles as she goes to walk past where Cade sits at the end of my desk to grab a chair, but before she can pass him he grabs her around the waist and pulls her down onto his lap. Smiling softly at him, she tosses an arm around his neck and curls into him.
“Shouldn’t you be cuddling me and not that bastard?” Ryker pouts. “I’m injured.”
“Sure. Go get your ass to Gabe’s house and into bed and I’ll cuddle with you,” Harley tells him with a cocked brow, knowing he isn’t going to do that.
Ryker huffs and then glances at me. “What were you guys doing?”
“Going through footage from the explosion,” I tell him.
“Have you found anything?” Harley asks as she sits up straight, glancing at the screens.
“Not really. It was either accidental and Rage will have to call the fire department back out, or it was something from Atlas’ bike. We have been tracking his movements through street cameras. We just got through where he had met the realtor at her office, and no one tampered with his bike. So we have to keep tracking him wherever he was before that.” I sigh, running a hand through my hair.
“We can help you finish,” Harley says as Ryker slowly rolls his chair closer so we are all squashed on the same side of the desk. I bring up the camera feeds on Nerds’ main computer screens so we can all see easily.
I continue clicking through the street cameras, doing my best to track his bike or find it when it goes out of sight. “Okay, it looks like he went from the house they toured straight to the realtor office. Only problem is, there aren't any cameras with a view of the house they saw.”
“Are you able to see if any neighboring houses have security cameras or, like, doorbell cams you could try to hack?” Ryker asks.
“Yeah, actually, I can.” Biting the corner of my lip nervously, I attempt to push aside the secret I know I need to spill soon and bring up the new software I now have installed on this computer.
Ten minutes later, I successfully hacked into the security company for the house across the street. “Got it. The neighbors have an at home security system set up. I got into it, and now we just need to rewind back.”
As I rewind, Harley speaks up, “That’s impressive, Gray. You did it so fast.”
“Found them,” I announce instead of responding. At normal speed, we watch as Lincoln and Atlas park their bikes in the driveway next to the realtor’s car. They wander around the front before heading inside and out of view. I hit the fast forward and keep playing it until we see movement about five minutes later.
“What the fuck?” Harley growls, leaning forward on Cade’s lap to watch as someone dressed in a dark hoodie and jeans walks down the sidewalk. We can only see their side profile right now, but they don’t look familiar at all. When they get to the driveway of the house, the guy faces the bikes and glances up and down the street before stepping between them and squatting. He places something on Atlas’ bike and then turns and places something on Linc’s.
Harley gasps, and before any of us have a chance to speak, Cade is lifting her from his lap and booking it out the door at a sprint. “Show your face, you fucker,” Harley seethes, still standing and glaring at the screen.
The guy never faces the house across the street, so the most we get is his side profile. I still stop at the clearest view as he is walking away and zoom in closer to take a screenshot. Luckily, Nerds taught me how to search for someone a long time ago, so I use the screenshot to run a search. Because it’s only a side profile, though, it doesn’t give me enough to track down the person.
Someone comes running back into the room, and we all glance up as Cade stops in the doorway, a thunderous look on his face. “Harley, let’s go. Lincoln drove his bike to the hospital, and he isn’t answering his phone. Grayson, stay here with Ryker. Noah and Stone are going with us,” he barks as he turns on his heel and Harley runs out right after him.
Ryker stares at the open doorway, a deep frown set on his face as he narrows his eyes in frustration. Placing a hand on his shoulder, I say, “You’ll be back at it in no time. But if you tried to race out of here to help, you would make yourself worse and then need even more time to recover.”
Ry snaps his narrowed gaze towards me. “I fucking know that.” Squeezing his eyes shut, he takes a breath and then looks at me again. His eyes are softer, but based on his tense posture, he is still frustrated. “I’m sorry I snapped. I know I can’t do anything right now, but it’s hard. I feel useless.”
“Well, I can give you a distraction while we wait for them to get to the hospital.”
I tell Ryker, not even thinking twice about how I worded it until his eyebrows slowly rise and then a smirk comes over his stupidly handsome face. “Oh yeah? What might that distraction be?” he purrs.
Rolling my eyes, I huff even as I feel my cheeks heat. “Not that kind of distraction, you perv. I need to tell you something.”
Growing serious, he nods. “Okay. What’s up?”
“When you were in the hospital, I talked to Nerds. I know he is dealing with his own stuff right now, and Rage doesn’t want him anywhere near work, but I needed advice.”
“Okay…” Ryker drawls when I don’t continue right away.
“He gave me advice, and I took it.” Snagging a pen off the desk, I twirl it between my fingers to give myself something to focus on. “I called Vance Brooks’ tech guy. His name is Sebastian, but he goes by Bas. Rage doesn’t want the Brooks Family involved in more—”
“Yeah, they have a working relationship, but Rage will never fully trust them,” Ryker adds.
I nod. “Nerds can’t keep teaching me right now, and even he was struggling with figuring out more about the Black Night, so I got in contact with Bas, and he has been helping me.”
“Okay. Rage may not love that, but I don’t think he is going to be really pissed. What’s the problem here, Gray?”
“I told him everything, Ry. When I first talked with him on the phone, he said he could teach me, but in order to fully help me, he needs to know everything. At first, I said no way. It felt like he was just wanting to know what we know. But the more we talked, the more sense he made. Then, I had a video call with the Kings of Hearts. It’s a team Vance runs outside of being the leader of his family. It’s him, his brother, Bas, and one other.
“They explained more about themselves and my gut was telling me to trust it. I know Rage is our person, and we should always go based on what he says, but after everything that he has been through and dealt with I feel like he will never truly trust other people again. Especially after Harley came into his life and everything that has happened since. He is overprotective. So I made the choice to trust them. I listened to everything they said, I asked questions, and I thought about it while you were in the hospital.”
“Okay, Gray, breathe for me,” Ryker says as he leans forward and places his good hand on my cheek. I take a breath, and he nods. “Good. You don’t have to justify yourself to me. I trust your instinct. I trust you. It’s going to be hell if Rage finds out, but we will face it together. I think the other ranking officers could come to understand as well and talk Rage down. You're right about him being overprotective, but let's not cross that bridge until we get there, alright?”
“Okay,” I breathe.
“Okay, so you shared everything with them?”
“Yeah, I told them about the Wilsons and how we are trying to track them down. I told them about the offshore accounts, the Black Night, anything I knew. Vance said they are all staying out of it unless Rage asks for their assistance, but he is willing to allow Bas to take a step back over and help teach me. We’ve already started searching for Tammy. And tonight, he is going to help me work on finding a way onto the Black Night site. We’ve been talking at night, since that’s when he isn’t busy and I can be alone, either when I was at the hospital with you or here some nights.”
“Okay. Keep doing it. I can help field off any questions from Rage or anyone else if they start asking shit, but it’ll be fine. We will figure it all out together.”
I nod and pull away from his hand to glance at the computer screens. “As soon as we find the Wilsons and get them dealt with, we can put the plan for the offshore accounts in motion. Bas knows exactly how to change the names on all the accounts and get Rage and the others' names away from them. So, as soon as we find the Wilsons, we can take down the other big players.”
Ryker’s phone buzzes, and he quickly answers while switching it to speaker, setting it on the desk. “What’s going on?” he asks.
“Everyone is okay,” Harley explains, breathless. “We got here and found his bike. There was a bomb on it. It’s now been destroyed but— shit.” She exhales heavily. “It malfunctioned. Who knows when it was supposed to go off? It could’ve gone off while he was driving. We got really fucking lucky.”
“Holy shit,” Ryker says. “Are we able to look at the explosive? Is there anything on it that could be useful?”
“Stone says no. He checked it over; apparently, it’s some super easy bomb to make. There’s nothing special about it,” Harley grumbles.
I stare at the image on the screen of the guy who placed the bombs, wishing there was another way to identify him. More than likely, he was hired, but still. We could try to get the information about him if we knew who he was. Maybe Bas will be able to help me when I talk with him tonight.
“What the—” I mumble as a blinking red box pops up on the screen. Then, slowly, each screen does the same, a large red box blinking in the middle of the screens. “Ryker?”
“What is that?” he asks while Harley asks what’s happening over the phone.
When I click on the box, an encrypted message pops up. Once I am able to get it open, I freeze.
You take from us, we take from you. You started this war.
I will end it.
“Harley, get back here with the guys now,” Ryker says before dialing Rage and asking him to come to the tech room.
We never left a footprint when we cleared the warehouse. We made sure of it. Nerds and I scanned for cameras when we watched the place for months. We made sure no one got away. So unless someone who helped us, turned on us for whatever reason, or maybe Vance decided to— I shake my head, no. I know how I felt when I talked with them. I refuse to believe my instincts about people are that far off.
So they had to of known the girls we saved were brought here if they sent this message to us and not one of the other MCs or the Brooks Family.
Rage opens the door as soon as the idea hits, and I jump to my feet. “Where’s Oakley?”
He pauses. “Upstairs in the same room from before. Why?”
“Come with me.” I bolt past him and run through the club, drawing attention as I go for the stairs, hearing footsteps behind me and cursing from Ryker. Heading to the room Oakley is in, I lightly knock and tap my fingers on my thigh until she finally says come in.
Walking in, I find her sitting on the bed with an open notebook in front of her while Raven sits in a chair off to the side. “You good, Grayson?” Raven questions as she glances at whoever comes in behind me.
Forcing myself to calm down, I walk towards the large bed in the center of the room and gently sit on the corner as far from Oakley as possible so I don’t startle her. “Oakley, do you remember the people at the warehouse ever cutting you…or maybe doing some kind of small surgery?”
Frowning, she thinks on it and then shakes her head. “I don’t remember, but honestly, I don’t think I would because of all the drugs.” Her face flushes with embarrassment.
“Okay, I need a huge favor from you. If you don’t want me to do it, Raven can help.”
She stares at me, waiting for me to continue, her face perfectly blank. “I need to feel your skin, around your neck and arms. Maybe even legs. I think—” I glance back at Rage, who is standing by the door with an out of breath Ryker, “I think they might have put trackers in the girls.”
“In–in me?” Oakley’s voice pitches high as she starts to scratch at her arms.
Raven jumps up and grabs her wrists, stopping her. “Oakley, babe, look at me.” Her wide, terrified eyes fly up to Raven. “If they did, we can find it and get it out of you, and then you can personally take a sledgehammer to it, okay?”
She nods slowly and then glances at me. “You can check.”
“Are you sure? Raven can do it, if you’d prefer.”
“It’s okay.” She glances at Raven. “Stay with me?” Raven nods and rubs her back before stepping back.
Once Oakley stands, I tell her everything I am doing as I check each arm, feeling for a hard, square device embedded right under the skin. When I find nothing on her arms, I move to her neck, and when my fingers press down on the back of her neck, right at her hairline, I feel it. Glancing at Rage and Ryker from where I stand behind Oakley, I nod once.
Ryker curses while Rage’s face hardens. “Okay, Oakley. I found something. I’m going to call Doc and ask him to come see if he can get it removed. Will you be okay staying with Raven?”
She nods and tears well in her eyes. Raven steps forward and wraps her in her arms, quietly soothing her. Walking out of the room, Rage and Ryker follow me, the former pulling the door shut behind him.
“Fucking trackers?” Rage seethes. “The explosion?”
I grimace. “It was intentional. We got a message. They knew it was us who saved the girls. I didn’t think anyone who helped us would have wanted to betray everyone that way, so the next option for them knowing it was us specifically would be trackers, since all the victims we saved were here."
“Fuck, the others,” Ryker barks.
I nod. “Yeah. Can you call Doc for Oakley? I’m going to get in contact with the other victims.”
“I will.” Rage nods. “Make sure you let them all know that if they feel unsafe where they are now, we will pay to get them moved wherever they want. We have to figure out who the fuck did this.”
Heading back downstairs, Ryker is huffing and wincing with each step. “Will you please go rest?” I beg.
He shakes his head. “No. I’ll sit in the office and won’t get up again.”
When we get to the hallway, I stop and glance over at Ryker. “Please? For me? I’ve already been scared out of my mind. The last thing I want to deal with right now is you passing out on me.”
Ryker grunts and faces me, raising his hand to rest on the back of my neck as he pulls me close. “I’m sorry you were ever scared or worried about me. But if I go out to Rage’s, I won’t rest. I’ll be too worried about everyone else. I will stay sitting, but I’m not leaving you.”
Not able to stop my mouth from running away from me, I blurt, “Ever?”
“No, Gray baby. You are stuck with me. I have you now, and I won’t ever let that go.”
My heart explodes within my chest, and before I can overthink it, I grip his face in my hands and kiss him, showing him how much his words mean to me. In between kisses, I smile softly. “I love you.”
His lips stretch into a grin against mine. “I know.” I huff and start to pull away, but Ryker doesn’t let go of me, giving me a hard, bruising kiss. “I love you too.”
After contacting all the victims' families, I sent a message to Bas about the one we received earlier. He said he would call later that night and we would look into it, but based on what I told him he doesn’t think anything will come of it.
Ryker finally dozed off in the chair next to mine, his head resting on my shoulder, but he is quick to jolt awake when the door opens and Cayden walks in with Harley, their faces grim.
“What’s going on?” Ryker rasps.
“We checked in on Lincoln while we were there. They started taking Atlas out of the coma, and he coded. They revived him, but he is back in the coma, and they don’t have any next steps right now,” Harley says as tears fall down her cheeks.
“He saved me when I ran away from Tammy’s. He dragged my ass out of my depression and got me to take back control of my life and now, he is going to lose his, isn’t he?” She gasps, sobs taking over her body. “This isn’t fair.”
Cade wraps her up in his arms and brings her closer to us as we all sit in weighted silence. I don’t know Atlas well, but he is a big part of Harley’s life, and I know he is Lincoln's best friend. I can’t imagine what he is going through right now. The fact that this could’ve been Ryker, Axe, or Sugar in the same spot as Atlas right now sends a shiver of fear through me but also burning fury.
They shouldn’t underestimate us—underestimate me .
I will learn everything I possibly can from Bas and spend day and night working to become the best hacker out there.